University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s Stand-Up Saturday featured accomplished comedian Mike Paramore.  Paramore was a finalist in the 2014 World Series of Comedy and won the 2015 Cleveland Comedy Festival, 2016 Laughing Devil Festival and the Laugh Fest’s “Best in the Midwest” competition in 2017.

Paramore talked about the differences between men and women, relationships and why parents shouldn’t say their child’s age in months.  He began doing standup about eight years ago and made it his full-time career about three years ago.

“When people think of comedians, they automatically thing about Kevin Hart and people like that, but most comedians have a full-time job outside of comedy,” Paramore said.

Prior to doing comedy full-time, Paramore was a cook for many years and then became a mechanic.  He began his comedy career touring his home state of Ohio and graduated to touring the country after success in comedy competitions.

Paramore enjoys doing stand-up because he is frequently engaging with members of the audience.

“I rarely stick to a set of jokes,” Paramore said. “I like to talk to the audience and get them involved.  People are weird, and I like to discover their weirdness.”

Paramore described what it was like doing stand-up.

“[Standup] is nerve-wracking,” Paramore said. “Comedy is just so subjective.  One person might think it’s hilarious, but another person may hate you for it.”

Paramore talked about how frightening it is to have your performance hinge on the reactions of the current crowd in front of you.

Paramore engaged the audience when he started to poke fun at couples in the audience. He said he did not enjoy happiness anymore since he was recently dumped.

“He was probably the funniest comedian I ever saw,” sophomore forensic investigation major Amber Gerken said. “I definitely want to see him again! The Winnie the Pooh joke had me in tears.”

Paramore invited everyone follow him on social media. He said he wants to be kept up to date on Platteville’s “weirdness.”

“His material was so funny, so I took his advice and followed him on Instagram,” Gerken said.